Posts from 2018

Goldman School student and DACA recipient Vlad Stoicescu Ghica discusses what brought him to the US from Romania, student activism as an undergrad at UCLA, and what it was like engaging then-newly-installed UC President Janet Napolitano on the subject of DACA and immigration.

In Episode 2 of Talk Policy to Me, host Jasmine Jones speaks with immigrant rights activist and Goldman student Jesús Guzmán about his personal story, the future of DACA, and the complexities of growing up in a mixed-status family.

Jesús has also served as the program analyst for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Jesús is currently completing his advanced policy analysis with the Marin Economic Forum with a focus on the housing shortage and income inequality. Jesús’ policy interests include labor economics, equity in energy policy, and economic development.

Prior to attending graduate school, Jesús was the Program Director for the Graton Day Labor Center in Northern California where he developed innovative workforce training programs and advocated for inclusive immigrant and labor policies.

Jesús was born in Jalisco, México and grew up in Sonoma County where he now resides with his wife Stephanie and daughter Victoria.

Guest Bio

Steven Raphael is a Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and holds the James D. Marver Chair at the Goldman School of Public Policy.

He works on immigration policy, research questions pertaining to various aspects of racial inequality, the economics of labor unions, social insurance policies, homelessness, and low-income housing.

His research focuses on also the economics of low-wage labor markets, housing, and the economics of crime and corrections. His most recent research focuses on the social consequences of the large increases in US incarceration rates and racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes.

He is the author (with Michael Stoll) of Why Are so Many Americans in Prison? (Russell Sage Foundation Press) and The New Scarlet Letter? Negotiating the U.S. Labor Market with a Criminal Record (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research). Raphael is research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the California Policy Lab, the University of Michigan National Poverty Center, the University of Chicago Crime Lab, IZA, Bonn Germany, and the Public Policy Institute of California. Raphael holds a Ph.D. in economics from UC Berkeley.

Jasmine Jones hails from Richmond, CA and graduated with a BA in Sociology from San Francisco State University. She has over half a decade of community organizing experience in low-income communities dealing with the school-to-prison pipeline, particularly addressing the issue of school police.

She was a founding member and the lead organizer at the Black Organizing Project based in Oakland, CA and under her leadership, working alongside parents and students, she passed four historic policies within Oakland Unified School District. In 2013 Jasmine was appointed by the mayor to the Human Rights and Human Relations Commission in the city of Richmond and has served as the Chair of the commission from 2014-2017. She transitioned into Leadership for Educational Equity in 2015 where she became a civic engagement coach training over 250 educators throughout the Bay Area in political leadership.

Jasmine is currently a Master of Publica Affairs (MPA) student at the Goldman School.

Jonathan Stein (MPP/JD '13) is the head of the Voting Rights Program at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus and previously served as a voting rights staff attorney for the ACLU of California. He is Chair of the Board of Directors at California Common Cause and Chair of the City of Oakland Public Ethics Commission. He is a Bay Area native.

Talk Policy To Me is brought to you by the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Berkeley Institute for the Future of Young Americans. The views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent those of the Goldman School, BIFYA, or the University of California.